The Sky is Falling Down (OPEN)

[Shel]

OPEN to anyone who wants to join.

Shel

It was way too cold. Maybe it would be sunny one of these days and the cold would go away. Coldness encouraged depression, and in this ragdoll, depression didn't need any encouragement. Today it was especially cold. It felt like someone had shoved a blanket of cold on top of him. He mumbled incoherently, cursing whomever it was. Was it always this cold?
Shel forced his optics open to discover a layer of white had settled on top of him. He lifted his head ever so slightly from his arms. He always slept curled up into a ball. Even when he intended to do otherwise, he always found himself waking up this way. He wasn't sure why. He blinked to clear his vision. That was a lot of white, the ground wasn't THAT white, was it?

The ground was indeed that white. Then he saw the soft flecks of white falling. He leapt to his feet, pointy hat falling to the snow, and stared at the sky. The whiteness of the clouds seemed to be flaking off... "Creators, the sky is falling in!" he shouted.
A couple moments later he fell back onto the ground, laughing. "Stupid me, it's snow!" He reached out and picked up his hat by its wide brim, placing it over his face and letting its teal ribbon lie on his chest. "It's been a long time since it's done that. HA! Snow!" For the first time in a month, a lazy smile drifted across his hidden face. If they were going to have the coldness of winter then they might as well have the good parts too.

[Endremit [88]]

On the opposite side of the spectrum, a doll was finding quite a bit less enjoyment in the new snow.

He, like Shel, was among the tombstones of the cemetery, but he was there for something entirely different. A loud CLNK could be heard echoing through the grotesque place, muffled so that the further away one was, the quieter it became. It was followed by an irritated shout, and another hard sound.

Endremit struck one of his hooked arms down again at the dirt, CLNK, but again the frozen ground did not give way. "Damn it all! Stupid ground!" The doll kicked at the earth like somehow that would work any better, and ended up slipping on the frost and falling right onto his ass with a grunt.

He just sat there for a few seconds, glaring up at the freshly-falling snow as if it had offended him terribly.

[Shel]

Shel heard a shout and sat up, sliding his hat onto the top of his head and disregarding the thin layer of white that had collected on his body. When another sound followed it, he decided to investigate. With his luck some half dead machine might have wandered in. It sounded a bit quiet for a machine, but you never know. He would hate to run into one that knew him.

As he came around the side of a tall round-topped gravestone, he let out a relieved sigh. Not a machine. He smiled at the unhappy looking stitchpunk, sweeping his hat off his head and performing an elaborate bow upon approaching, as was his habit. Drawing himself back up to his full height, he held out a hand to the shorter ragdoll. "I take it something seems to be the matter?"

[Endremit [88]]

Luckily for Shel, this doll was familiar (on a personal level) with multiple traitors and machines.. but he wasn't a traitor, and he wasn't up-to-beat with the alliance and its general member population. He looked upon Shel and didn't recognize him.. though, after some scrutiny, he decided he must either be part of the Mark or an intruder. That's the only bad thing about this alliance - there wasn't a real sensitive way to find out if someone else was a member.

"Yeah, you could say that." He watched Shel rather suspiciously as the other approached, and studied the other doll's hand as it was held out. He lidded his optics slightly, giving Shel a sarcastic grin, and lifted a hooked arm to sort of smack it into the other's palm and pull himself up without waiting for the other to do anything. Stepping away after he had his balance, he made it very obvious that he was watching Shel carefully. "Who are you? Are you supposed to be here, or are you trespassing? This is an owned place, y'know."

[Shel]

At Endermit's suspicious gaze, the grey doll's smile widened. Being watched. That was definitely something he had experience with. He felt mildly unnerved, but he was used to feeling mildly unnerved. 

He adjusted his posture to look slightly more casual, a defense he had developed over the years.
He hid behind a mask of aloof carelessness and politeness here. It was second nature to him. One day it would get him into trouble, though he supposed that would have to wait until he had gotten in trouble for every other aspect of his personality.

"I find the word 'trespasser' mildly distasteful. Of course, in this situation I am not one, but, well..." he trailed off and attempted with only partial success to keep the bitterness off his face. He shrugged, unsure how to finish the sentence.
"But let's not get into that. This day started out nice and I would very much like for it to stay that way."

[Endremit [88]]

Well.. okay. That answer was good enough for him. Endremit gave Shel a stiff, accepting nod, letting himself relax slightly. He may not be fond of company, but this fellow was apparently an ally, and he would behave accordingly.

"'Nice day'? Yeah sparking right. This is not a nice day." The irritated doll shrugged largely, as if trying to throw the weight of a few snowflakes off of his shoulders, and turned back to the work he'd paused in. He stared down at the ground angrily for a few moments before turning his attention back on Shel. "You haven't seen any uncovered bodies around here, have you? The damn ground is so frozen I can't dig them up anymore. It's putting a rather cold clamp on my day."

[Shel]

Well. Apparently making his presence known here had been a mistake. If he had wanted a mood dampener, he would have asked for one. Or walked off into the emptiness. Or something. He supposed walking up to an obviously frustrated doll was pretty much asking for a mood dampener, and Endremit had pretty obviously been frustrated. And still was.

Wait, uncovered bodies? He wasn't really sure if he found that disgusting or intriguing, or maybe slightly creepy. Not that he hadn't been quite the creep himself from time to time, and this was, after all, a graveyard. "You dig up bodies?" he asked, tilting his head to one side. "Why, what do you need them for?"

[Endremit [88]]

Endremit gave Shel a sideways glance, optics lidded and grin slightly amused. He wasn't secretive about taking enjoyment from others' problems. He could just imagine himself ruining this doll's "lovely" day.

But that would have to be a side goal. It wasn't as if he was OUT to make days horrible.

"Yeah, I dig up bodies. Not.. not human bodies, mind you. Those piles of crap can stay buried." He turned to study the ground again, which was scraped up from his striking at it. "I want the parts, moron." He looked back up at Shel, giving him a weary expression, like he wasn't ready to explain too much. "They aren't doing any good lying under the frozen ground. In fact, they're getting ruined. Some doll could need replacement parts, eh?"

[Shel]

Oh. Well then. That was interesting. Possibly no less creepy then before, but it was the type of creepy he could deal with. The type he was desensitized to because he had seen dolls--dead and living--dismembered every day of his life up until about a year ago, and used for parts. His expression brightened just a little.

If Endremit was digging up dead dolls, that meant they had probably been alive at some point. If they had been alive at some point, they probably had brains. And if they had brains, there was probably a little chip or two inside their heads filled with all their life experiences from back when they had been alive. A dark smile reminiscent of the person he had once been crept across his face.

"Would you mind if I joined your hunt? I want one piece from in here," he tapped the side of his head with two fingers, "And I can get it with minimal damage to the bodies. Nothing to worry about so long as you are okay with a small rip right around here..." he moved his fingers to his forehead and traced a line back onto the top of his head, pushing his hat back as he did so.

[Endremit [88]]

If he'd seen that smile, he probably would've found it discomforting. But his attention was elsewhere, optics flicking about as he scanned the cemetery around them for any other sign of a doll body. He nodded sharply at Shel's request, hardly giving it time to be thought over. "Doesn't matter to me, as long as I get the limbs and the voice box. I'd like the optics, too." He eyed Shel a moment, taking note of where the other doll had indicated. His own smile flashed slightly, suspiciously. But it wasn't real suspicion, only a show.

"And what exactly is in there that you want so bad? What are you, some sort of wirer? You aren't an alchemist, are you?" An edge came into his voice as his mind came to that possibility; then again, alchemists didn't usually want into a doll's head.

That wasn't very smart, 88. He knew it, and he decided not to wait for an answer. Better play it off cool than be considered a freak. "Aghh.." He turned and began walking, focused on another headstone not far from the one they'd been standing at. His pace was slow, painfully slow, as if silently inviting the other to follow. "You can break through this frosted ground somehow, I hope?"

[Shel]

Now this was going to be exciting. He hadn't had new memories to look at in quite a long time, and these ones would be guilt free. No nagging conscience at the back of his mind telling him he shouldn't be doing this, no blank-faced dolls reminding him that what he had taken would have to be returned, and he wouldn't get another look. "The limbs, optics, oil, whatever. All yours. I won't touch 'em."

Shel laughed at Endremit's questions. "No, nothing like that. I'm a memory thief. Or was. I could be one again if anyone needed my services. As it is, reliving other people's lives is a bit addicting, but the same ones over and over get boring. Like a book. Rereaading is good and all, but not as good as a new one."

As for breaking into the dirt... It couldn't be frozen that far down, could it? He knew he'd seen a rusty trowel a couple days ago somewhere around the edge of the graveyard. The gravestones were pretty tall, some of them. That one over there for example. If you dropped a trowel from the top of a cross that tall, it was bound to make a dent, and if they could get just a little past the frost they'd be good. With Endremit's help it might actually be possible to haul the smallish shovel to the top of the cross. "I think so. Follow me," he replied, and bounded off in the direction of the graveyard gate.

[Endremit [88]]

Shel's description of his hobby made Endremit lid his optics in a show of slight amusement. It was rather creepy, that.. even more so, maybe, than his own hobby of robbing graves. He wasn't sure he liked being in company of someone with that sort of knowledge, but at the same time.. he didn't really have anything Shel would want. At least, he didn't think so.

The doll nodded and paused in his steps to let the other doll pass him. He hesitated a few seconds, as if undecided as to whether he really wanted to follow, and in the end.. trudged after. Shel seemed to know what he was doing, and besides.. moving, even without a real source of heat, gave the illusion of warmth.

"That's quite an.. interesting line of work there. Seems the sort of thing certain alliances might find useful. Certain.. rather avoidable alliances."

If he was nothing else, Endremit did love to poke fun. Even if it was serious fun.

[Shel]

Shel walked faster, his already long strides growing even longer. They were not far from their destination, and he could see the handle of the necessary object already. Then this conversation could end and he could start doing something he was good at. Telling the truth about things past was not something he was good at. It tended to suck too damn much.

His face darkened and he glanced back at Endremit. "It is and has been. And might still be if I were still willing to torture children with it," he replied, his voice coming out harsher than he had intended. He looked away, back at the ground in front of him. Just keep walking.

[Endremit [88]]

Children, hm? A flash of memory hit him and he saw Lumen, back before she was gone. A new flick of dislike appeared for the other doll and he found himself casually glaring at his back. It was a little bit uncalled for, but what the hell. He might be unwilling to "torture children" anymore, but just the mental photograph of someone hurting Lumen pissed the hook-armed doll off to a degree that even he didn't understand. Hell, he hadn't even liked her all that much.

The company, though, he'd gotten used to.

His voice came out a bit flatter and colder after that. If he didn't have something to do soon, he would probably make a smart remark that would make him an enemy or something. "Alright, alright. Let's just.. get this done. I need to work."

[Shel]

Shel nodded. He walked quickly to the place where the trowel lay, half-buried in the dirt and now covered in a thin layer of snow. He stopped and turned to his companion. "Here we are. Help me get this thing out of the ground and it should be able to break through the ground. If you drop it from somewhere high up or something."

Without waiting for an answer, he knelt and wrapped his jagged fingers around the base of the trowel's handle, just above where it stuck into the earth. With the other hand, he cleared away some of the frost on its rusty brown surface, the contact between the two metals producing a quiet skreeing sound. Then, with both hands on the handle, he pulled.